Mobile Commerce Daily’s Dan Butcher interviewed Douglas Orr, CEO of Sccope, Windsor, Berkshire, England. Here is what he said:

What is the strategy behind the launch of Sccope’s iPhone app?
Sccope already provides a great comparison shopping site on the Web and the development of the iPhone app is a part of an ambitious plan to increase distribution and use of Sccope across all mobile platforms.

We are driving this growth by providing Sccope’s Sccope2Save widget to a number of major telecoms service providers and handset manufacturers.

The key differentiating features of the Sccope2Save platform is that product prices can be searched for by scanning a bar code in store or typing a product name or description.

By increasing our distribution we will be more attractive to a wider number of retailers and so in turn to consumers.  It is a virtuous circle.

What is the target demographic?
The iPhone app is self-selecting in terms of users, but our research show a bias 60/40 in favor of female consumers, all being over 25 years old and owning a credit card. But there really is no limit to who Sccope2Save will appeal to.  If you want to save money, then it is for you.

What challenges does the Sccope app address for retailers? For consumers?
For retailers looking to create a mobile retail channel, Sccope provides a rapid and highly effective solution. 

We have the platform in place, we are growing our distribution and users, and our revenue model means that retailers only pay when they sell products – so it is completely self-funding.

Ultimately, having a mobile sales channel with Sccope gives retailers access to customers no matter where they are, at any time of day.

Sccope2Save makes it easy and quick for consumers to find the very best price for a wide range of goods either while in the store, at home, at the office or just out and about.  That is the beauty of using the mobile phone. 

As we update our prices daily from an independent database provided by Netprice, consumers also know they are getting objective and accurate information.

Which retailers has Sccope partnered with?
Sccope provides prices from the UK’s top 100 retailers, including Amazon, Comet and John Lewis.

How is Sccope getting the word out about its iPhone app (i.e. marketing tactics)?
We have an integrated communications strategy to get the word out. This includes public relations, email campaigns, affiliate marketing and advertising. We are must be doing something right as we have more than 20,000 downloads of the app since Saturday, Jan. 9 .

What is the current state of shopping via mobile, and what is its potential?
I think we would describe the current state of mobile shopping as nascent. Despite many, many false dawns we are still in the early-adopter phase. 

But we are on the cusp of a massive increase in mobile shopping.

This is being driven telecoms operators needing to generate new revenue streams; phones being  more advanced and having the capability to provide a great shopping experience, retailers looking to build revenues in an ever increasingly competitive marketplace and an ‘impulse’ society which demands the ability to shop 24/7.

In terms of the numbers, Infinit/Juniper are forecasting a world mobile commerce market valued at £55 billion [$80 billion] by 2012, with UK and Europe making up £20 billion [$29 billion] of that figure. (These estimates exclude POS mobile payments.)